Christopher McCrudden is Professor of Human Rights and Equality Law at Queen’s University Belfast and William W Cook Global Law Professor at the University of Michigan Law School. Until 2011, he was Professor of Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford. His research deals with the foundational principles that underpin human rights practice. A practicing Barrister at Blackstone Chambers in London, in this final seminar in our On being human series, Professor McCrudden will consider whether we need an understanding of what it means to be 'human' in order to construct a coherent normative theory of human rights.

One of the most significant debates in human rights discourse concerns their deep foundations. A great deal of philosophical, anthropological, historical, political science and legal literature on human rights theory has recently been published which has intensified the debate over the normative justification of what we call 'human rights' - without resolving it.

At the same time, one of the most contentious issues is whether we need an understanding of what it means to be 'human' in order to construct a coherent normative theory of human rights.

On the one hand, then, a coherent and agreed deep theory of human rights is still struggling to be born. On the other hand, there is a vibrant and increasingly prevalent practice of human rights, domestically, internationally and transnationally which carries on regardless.

Where I hope to make a contribution through this seminar, is to marry these two issues and consider how (or whether) the practice of human rights speaks to the theoretical issue of the justification of human rights and to suggest that, taken together, they indicate how the 'human' in human rights is to be understood.

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Professor McCrudden’s seminar ‘What is the "human" in human rights?’ took place on Monday, 14th November 2016 at Union Theological College, Belfast, and was the last in the ‘On being human’ series of seminars.